


Soft Light

by leiascully



Series: The FBI's Most Unwanted [51]
Category: The X-Files
Genre: Episode Related, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-01
Updated: 2016-10-01
Packaged: 2018-08-18 23:39:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 349
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8180111
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/leiascully/pseuds/leiascully
Summary: It was strange to him how strange it was to see Scully working with another woman.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Timeline: 2.23 "Soft Light"  
> Disclaimer: _The X-Files_ and all related characters are the property of Chris Carter, 1013 Productions, and Fox Studios. No profit is made from this work and no infringement is intended.

It was strange to him how strange it was to see Scully working with another woman. He forgot, sometimes, with the blithe way she cut through the murky masculine depths of conspiracy, how few women were in her life. He had seen her with her sister and her mother, and it had been something of a revelation, to see her comfortable and comforted, the youngest daughter of her family. He lost sight of that part of her sometimes; she was an expert negotiator of the boys' club at the Bureau. But here was Scully the mentor, with her quick sidelong sympathetic glances and her reassurances. On some level, he was failing her. He soaked up her moments of semi-maternal affection and gave nothing back. He could see the promise inherent in the connection between her and young Detective Ryan: nourishing on both sides, a firm handshake. He and Scully pushed against each other in a way that equalized the pressure, but it didn't feel the same. 

Maybe she needed a different partner. It wasn't as if it was the first time the thought had occurred, only the first time he'd thought his gender might contribute to her difficulties. 

After it was all over, he wondered what it felt like, drifting into the shadow. Had it hurt them, the flashburn of dark matter undoing the bonds that held their atoms together? Perhaps it should have been him instead of Ryan; he had not accomplished much worth commemorating. There and gone, from star stuff to star dust. What would Scully's life have been without him? Would she have burned a candle for him? Sworn off lipstick for a week? Changed the trajectory of her life? Found fulfillment in some other career? Or would she have followed his ghost for the rest of her days, her feet wearing grooves in the same lonely path?

He touched her back as they left the cemetery, his palm gentle between her shoulder blades. She leaned against him almost imperceptibly.

They would avoid the shadows as long as they could. It would have to be enough.


End file.
